Alessandra Lynch will begin reading at 7pm.

After Lynch’s reading and a brief break, the open mic will begin. Open mic prompt: Write a poem at the intersection of the past and the future. Read a poem or short piece that is 317 words maximum, and challenge yourself to share new work!

About Alessandra Lynch:

Alessandra’s fifth book of poetry, Wish Ave, was published by Alice James Books in 2024. She is the author of four other poetry collections: Pretty Tripwire, Daylily Called It a Dangerous Moment (winner of the Balcones Prize, finalist for the LA Times Book Award and the UNT Rilke Prize, listed as a NY Times top ten poetry books of 2017), It was a terrible cloud at twilight, and Sails the Wind Left Behind. Her work has appeared in the American Poetry Review, The New England Review, The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, and other journals. 

Alessandra has received residencies from MacDowell, Yaddo, the Lannan Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Vermont Studio Center. She has been the recipient of a Barbara Deming Award and a Creative Renewal Fellowship Award. She has also been a featured blogger for the Poetry Foundation’s  Harriet Books. Currently, Alessandra serves as Butler University’s poet in residence where she teaches in the undergraduate and MFA programs.

She has collaborated with musician Earl Townsend, composer Harriet Steinke, painter Richard Rosenblatt, and artist Carlos Rodriguez-Mendez.

NIGHTJAR creates an inclusive space for all by bringing together spoken-word performers and page-based poets writing in narrative, lyric, and experimental forms. Every third Wednesday, C.S. Carrier and Michelle Niemann host a reading and invite audience members to share their own poetic responses.